2 men arrested for stealing 3 tons of steel from the University of Michigan

Two men are accused of stealing nearly three tons of stainless steel from a building on the University of Michigan's North Campus.

The steel was being used in a research project involving the U.S. Navy, U-M police spokeswoman Diane Brown said.

Linden Vann of Wayne and Matthew Reusch of Westland were arraigned Thursday on two counts each of larceny exceeding $20,000 and two counts of larceny greater than $10,000, said U-M police spokeswoman Diane Brown.

Brown said the men are believed to be responsible for stealing 11 large pieces of stainless steel weighing roughly 5,900 pounds. They were taken from outside the Lay Automotive Lab on different occasions between Aug. 11 and 25.

Vann, 41, and Reusch, 21, each entered not guilty pleas and requested public defenders, court records show. They were released on bond pending a preliminary hearing on Sept. 17.

Police traced some of the steel to a Wayne County scrapyard, where it was sold on Aug. 28. The men returned to the same scrapyard Tuesday and were arrested by Wayne police officers, Brown said.

The thefts were among several metal-related crimes reported throughout campus this spring and summer.

In July, a man stole about 5,000 pounds of lead bricks from outside the Duderstadt Center. He was arrested attempting to sell them as scrap in Inkster, police said. The bricks, valued at $2,000, were used as barriers to contain radiation in scientific experiments.